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Iced Green Tea

By Lan Lam

Published on May 12, 2020

Time

15 minutes, plus 2 hours steeping and chilling

Yield

Serves 4

Iced Green Tea

Ingredients

2 tablespoons loose-leaf green tea 3 cups hot water (175 degrees)1 cup ice water Lemon wedges

Before You Begin

Chinese green tea will produce a grassy, floral tea, whereas Japanese green tea is more savory. You can substitute decaffeinated tea if desired. Do not substitute tea bags for the loose-leaf tea. To ensure that your water is at the proper temperature, start with 2½ cups of boiling water; add cold water, a little at a time, and stir with an instant-read thermometer until the water registers 175 degrees; and then measure out 3 cups. Your ice water should be half ice and half water. This recipe can easily be doubled. Sweeten with simple syrup, if desired.

Instructions

  1. Place tea in medium bowl. Add hot water and steep for 4 minutes. Add ice water and steep for 1 hour. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into pitcher (or strain into second bowl and transfer to pitcher). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
  2. To serve, pour into ice-filled glasses and garnish each serving with lemon wedge.
Iced Green Tea
Photography by Carl Tremblay. Styling by Chantal Lambeth.

Iced Green Tea

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Time

15 minutes, plus 2 hours steeping and chilling

Yield

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons loose-leaf green tea
3 cups hot water (175 degrees)
1 cup ice water
Lemon wedges

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

2 tablespoons loose-leaf green tea
3 cups hot water (175 degrees)
1 cup ice water
Lemon wedges

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

2 tablespoons loose-leaf green tea
3 cups hot water (175 degrees)
1 cup ice water
Lemon wedges

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

For smooth and refreshing iced green tea, we skipped lower-quality bagged tea in favor of loose-leaf tea. We started by brewing tea with 175-degree water to extract the aromatic compounds from the leaves. Then we cooled the extraction with ice water but did not strain it. By steeping the tea for an hour at this lower temperature, we could draw more flavor from the leaves without pulling out too many astringent compounds.

Before You Begin

Chinese green tea will produce a grassy, floral tea, whereas Japanese green tea is more savory. You can substitute decaffeinated tea if desired. Do not substitute tea bags for the loose-leaf tea. To ensure that your water is at the proper temperature, start with 2½ cups of boiling water; add cold water, a little at a time, and stir with an instant-read thermometer until the water registers 175 degrees; and then measure out 3 cups. Your ice water should be half ice and half water. This recipe can easily be doubled. Sweeten with simple syrup, if desired.

Instructions

  1. Place tea in medium bowl. Add hot water and steep for 4 minutes. Add ice water and steep for 1 hour. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into pitcher (or strain into second bowl and transfer to pitcher). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
  2. To serve, pour into ice-filled glasses and garnish each serving with lemon wedge.

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